Album, Single and EP Reviews

Beware, Dark Lord! Here Comes Bell-Man! by Straytones

One of the (few) remaining benefits of writing about music is the near compulsory exposure that I get to all sorts of music from all sorts of unexpected places. I would not, for example, have expected to find a psychedelic rock band in the Ukraine but that is where Straytones hail from and close behind then comes their new EP “Beware, Dark Lord! Here comes Bell-Man!”.

I have no more idea than you what the title of this EP means but, hey, this is psychedelic rock and no one needs anything to make sense. The psychedelic rock of the Ukraine – at least as portrayed by Straytones – is a heavy mix of fuzzed out guitars and murky vocals that melts your ears and, with the volume cranked up and the lava lamps switched on, the songs on this album soon shapeshift themselves into the sounds of a sonic steamroller rolling down the road on track for stadium destruction. Kaboom guaranteed.